kneady Girl: Breaded Pork Chops

This is one of our kids favorite meals, and mine too actually. I usually don't have much luck with pork chops for some reason. I usually overcook them. I can cook a tenderloin, but hand be a pork chop and I will hand you back a dry, white piece of "meat". Am I all alone here? I guess that is one of the reasons I like this recipe so much...Never dried out! I hope your like it too.

Recipe:

1 1/2 cup bread crumbs                                      2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese                                    1 cup of flour
pepper                                                                 4 pork chops
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 cup chopped parsley (or dried)
I like some seasoning salt as well, but it depends on the type of Parmesan cheese you use....If you shake it from a can, which I don't recommend, then I would be careful about adding more salt.

I had very thick pork chops so cot them in half horizontally first so I had less pounding to do. I like to use a Ziploc bag to pound them in. Many people use saran wrap or wax paper to cover the meat, but I like the bag because there is no mess to clean up after pounding.

Working with one chop at a time, using a meat tenderizer or a rolling pin, pound the meat until it is about an 8th of an inch thick. Continue until all of the chops have been pounded.

You will need three containers for the breading. In one container, lightly beat 2 eggs with about 1 tbsp of water and set aside.

In another container, combine the bread crumbs, pepper, cheese, garlic powder and parsley. Mix

In the last container, combine the flour with some salt and pepper.

I like to set up a little assembly line for myself with a tray near buy to put the breaded chops on.
This can be done in earlier and left until ready for dinner.

Dip the chop into the flour and shake off any excess flour. Dip into the egg wash and then into the breadcrumbs. Once you are ready to cook the chops, be sure that the rest of your dinner is ready. These only take a few minutes to cook because they are so thin and after being cooked, they don't hold that well. If you really needed to, you could put them in the oven to hold.

I didn't get a picture of them cooking...How did that happen you ask? I guess between cooking the side dish, getting my daughter ready for her dance class, and yelling at least three times for my oldest son to set the table, I thought I did get a picture. Where is my head?!

Anyway, heat about a tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp of butter in a pan. I use both because the butter on it's own would burn quickly. The addition of the oil allows the butter to be at a higher temp.Once the butter starts to bubble, add the chops. Make sure not to crowd them as this might make them actually steam instead of fry. There needs to be enough room for the liquid to evaporate. All you are really looking for is to see a nice golden brown. Because they are so thin once you get this golden brown you can flip them and do the same for the other side. Continue until all of the chops are done. You may need to add more oil and butter depending on how many chops you are cooking.